Dolphins Making Adjustments at Their Facility

Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores told the Palm Beach Post he was 'cautiously optimistic' there will be a 2020 season, and the organization is doing its part to help keep the players as safe as possible at the team facility

The Miami Dolphins are like every team in the NFL, waiting to find out what's going to happen with training camp, the preseason and even the 2020 regular season, but in the meantime they're doing whatever they can to help provide as safe a working environment as possible.

The organization announced last week that Hard Rock Stadium had secured GBAC STAR facility accreditation for its thorough cleaning, disinfection and infection prevention strategies.

Hard Rock Stadium, which was the first public facility to commit to earning STAR accreditation from GBAC (Global Biorisk Advisory Council), completed 20 program elements with specific performance and guidance criteria to earn that accreditation.

But the Dolphins also are making a concerted effort at their training facility at Nova Southeastern University.

Head coach Brian Flores outlined some of the modifications that have been made in an interview with the Palm Beach Post on Tuesday.

For one thing, the Dolphins now have two locker rooms instead of one after redesigning some meeting rooms and there are plexiglas barriers between stalls for social-distancing purposes.

Meetings not conducted via Zoom will be take place in redesigned rooms that have cut capacity in half or in the practice bubble.

The Dolphins also have added an infectious disease specialist from Baptist Health to their medical staff.

“As a staff, as an organization, we’ve combed through the CDC and the NFL facility guidelines,” Flores told the Palm Beach Post. “And what we’ve done is we’ve thought to ourselves, ‘What can we do to go above what those guidelines are?’ We understand — I understand — players are going to be on high alert when they get here, if they get here, and we just want to put them at ease.

“Our goal is to make sure our facility is a place where the players feel safe.”

Dolphins rookies are scheduled to report for training camp next week, though there are details that still have to be ironed out between the league and the NFL Players Association.

Among those is the status of preseason games, which the NFLPA would like eliminated entirely. The exact training camp roster size also is in question.

Complicating matters for the Dolphins is the fact that Florida has become a hot spot for COVID-19. The state reported 9,194 new cases Tuesday, with 134 new deaths.

Among the precautions the Dolphins are trying to take, they've doubled their cleaning crew and are requiring everyone to wear a mask inside the facility.

“It’s a two-way street,” Flores told the Post. “We’re going to do everything we can here in the facility. And when the players leave the facility, they’ve got to take some ownership in this as well as far as taking the necessary precautions.

“I’m cautiously optimistic we’re going to play. I think a lot has to go right and I think we’re doing the things we need to do as an organization here to make sure those things go right.”